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When to admit you were wrong (Wednesday)

I just committed a heinous crime. It is made so much worse because I purchased what is probably the most beautifully labelled bottle of beer I have ever seen. It is adorned with a mermaid holding two full beer glasses, her seaweed-like hair swishing around and it is called “Punk’in Drublic”.

It is made by Coronado Brewing Company, California, an Imperial Ale aged in brandy barrels and brewed with pumpkin and spices.

A hefty 8% ABV it is a rich golden colour, smells and tastes as expected: sweet spices, fruit leather, barrelly tones. Now this is when I committed that terrible sin: I added lemonade.

My beautiful handmade craft beer, travelled across the ocean, placed ceremoniously on the shelves of Liquorland Newmarket, sitting in my fridge for a week waiting for an occasion to drink it (occassion: it’s a Wednesday) – and I turned it into a shandy.

See, the problem is that I don’t actually like barrel aged beers. I did a stupid thing and bought one cos I liked the name and the label. I’m sure we’ve all been here before. The last time was Moa’s Rum Barrel Aged Sour (a whole lot less drinkable than this one). It is not a bad beer by a very long shot, it’s just that I’m the wrong person to make a happy match. This is a view I have adopted lately of human relationships. Two people can be perfectly great as individuals but sometimes they just don’t work together in harmony.

So, if you do make this mistake with your beer selection, here are a few things to try:

Try food with your beer. I happened to have some maple syrup & pecan cream cheese on hand (how convenient!) and this went very nicely with the beer. (Interestingly, my significant other uses this same “just add food” technique on me – I’m as sweet as pie as long as you remember to feed me frequently.)

Take your time. Maybe your palate got a shock, maybe you need a bit of time to adjust to the bitterness, hoppiness, sourness or sweetness of the beer because it just wasn’t what you were expecting.

Add lemonade. This is the most delicious shandy I have ever tasted.

Admit you were wrong, and move on! Don’t suffer silently or say bad things about it. There are plenty more fish in the sea!